of the Czech Republic
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
announces
tender for the delivery of a small-scale public PROCUREMENT
„evaluation of the czech republic development cooperation Project in the SECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY (AGRICULTURE) in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA”
and invites bids
information on the CONTRACTING AUTHORITY
Contracting authority: Czech Republic – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Registration number: 45769851
Tax registration no: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not a VAT payer
Registered address: Loretánské náměstí no. 101/5, Praha 1, PSČ 118 00
For substantive decisions and contractual matters the contracting authority is represented by:
PhDr. Hana Ševčíková, Director, Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Department
Official responsible for organising the tender process:
Mgr. Dita Villaseca B. Kubíková, Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Department
tel.: 224 18 2872, e-mail:
Subject of the procurement (NIPEZ 79998000-6 Coaching services)
The subject of the procurement announced as an open tender is evaluation of the Czech Republic Development Cooperation in the sector of government and civil society (overlapping the sector of agriculture) in Bosnia and Herzegovina with emphasis on assessing its long-term impacts and sustainability, including the potential capability to extend development cooperation or implementation of a follow-up bilateral cooperation beyond the Czech development cooperation.
The following project is the subject of evaluation:
,,Strengthening the capacity of veterinary laboratories and veterinary inspection services within National Residue Monitoring Plan (NRMP), Bosnia and Herzegovina”
coordinator: / Czech Development Agencysector: / Government and Civil Society
implementation period: / 2012 – 2014
project type: / Budgetary measure
implementer: / State Veterinary Institute Prague
total project value: / 6.13 million CZK
Principal stakeholders
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (MFA) – responsible within the framework of the Czech Republic Development Cooperation for the conceptual management of development cooperation, including the programming of its bilateral components and the evaluation of results
Czech Development Agency („CzDA“) has been active since 1st January 2008 as an implementation agency in the field of the Czech Republic Development Cooperation, and in particular, in the preparation and implementation of bilateral development projects. Currently the CzDa is responsible for coordinating almost the whole range of bilateral development projects of a significant scale. The CzDA coordinated implementation of the project to be evaluated.
Embassy of the Czech Republic in Sarajevo represents the Czech Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina including the field of development cooperation. Coordination and monitoring of development cooperation are the responsibility of a member of the embassy diplomatic staff.
Implementers
State Veterinary Institute Prague implemented the project via budgetary measure based on the government procurement launched by the CzDA (on the basis of tender).
Partner organizations
State Veterinary Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina
FARMA (Fostering Agricultural Markets Activity) – program focused on promoting agricultural activities (joint project of Swedish Development Agency Sida and the American Development Agency USAID)
Target groups (beneficiaries) – employees of the state veterinary laboratory and veterinary inspection services involved in the implementation of the NRMP, coaches of veterinary inspectors (from the State Veterinary Office Bosnia and Herzegovina or inspectorates at the entity level) and, through their agency, agricultural and food companies and cooperatives exporting to EU member states or candidate countries, as well as relevant agricultural subjects with growing potential for this export; farmers supplying their own products to large enterprises for further processing and their families.
Additional information concerning assessment of the evaluated project
This development cooperation project was selected for evaluation with the intention to reconsider the continuation of the implementation of the Czech development cooperation in the sector of government and civil society, eventually agriculture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Reports from previous evaluation cycles, including recommendations from a comprehensive assessment of the 2012 - 2013 evaluation reports and the evaluation system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which took place in 2014, had been taken into account. The current requirement of the CzDA to draft or update individual sector strategies in partner countries of the Czech development cooperation had been reflected as well. The project for this evaluation was selected due to an emphasis on its long-term impacts and sustainability. Evaluation will also constitute the basis for the overall evaluation of the Development Cooperation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2010 – 2017.
Objectives and purpose of evaluation
Evaluations of the Czech development cooperation projects are undertaken on the basis of Act No. 151/2010 Sb., on Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, the Development Cooperation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2010 – 2017 (Government Decree No. 366 of 24th May 2010), individual government decrees on development cooperation, the applicable provisions of Project Cycle Methodology for Bilateral Development Cooperation Projects and relevant strategy documents valid in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The main purpose of evaluations is to obtain independent, objectively based and consistent findings, conclusions and recommendations usable by the MFA in cooperation with the CzDA when deciding on the future implementation of development cooperation in a specific sector and/or a specific partner country.
Based on the project implemented under auspices of CzDA between 2012 – 2014 the purpose of this specific evaluation is to assess activities of the Czech Republic in the sector of government and civil society, eventually in the sector of agriculture, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Evaluation shall be performed in accordance with the internationally recognised OECD/DAC criteria and other specific evaluation criteria (as follow). No less important further expected output is assessment of whether and how the evaluated development activities were linked to relevant strategic development cooperation documents of the Czech Republic and of Bosnia and Herzegovina; whether and how they were linked with other activities of the Czech Republic Development Cooperation and/or other donors´s activities in the same sector; whether a mutual coordination and communication among Czech development cooperation players has been implemented, etc.
Another expectation of contracting authority is, in the context of the topic and with regard to the project assignment (budgetary measure) the assessment of intervention logic which should include analysis of key requirements and risks for achieving objectives, and where appropriate, analysis of methodological obstacles and constraints that may have affected the evaluation. If the evaluation team finds the intervention logic in the project documentation poorly or incompletely defined, the reconstruction of the intervention logic is expected as part of evaluation. Comparison to current CzDA practice in thematically similar project assignments over the evaluation of intervention logic is welcomed.
OECD/DAC evaluation criteria
Findings and conclusions of the independent evaluation shall provide an overview of the Czech Republic activities in the sector of government and civil society, eventually in the sector of agriculture in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the evaluation period, including as to internationally recognised OECD/DAC evaluation criteria, i.e. relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and, above all, sustainability and impacts. Brief definitions of the OECD/DAC criteria are as follow: [1]
Relevance – the extent to which the development activity is suited to the needs, priorities and policies of the target group, partner (recipient) country and donor country.
Efficiency – degree of utilisation of input resources (scheduling, expertise, administration and management, finances etc.) regarding the actually achieved outcomes. The performed activities are assessed as to their adequacy, effectiveness and efficiency. Where appropriate, alternative solutions can be proposed to achieve the defined results and objectives in a way requiring less funds, less time, or greater regard to local conditions, etc. It can be assessed as well, whether the desired outputs and outcomes had been set up realistically. An assessment of the degree to which optimum use was made of financial resources to achieve the desired results is undertaken from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.
Effectiveness – Theory of Change, the degree to which the development intervention objectives have been met – specific confirmed or anticipated utilization of the intervention results. The objective is understood as a change in behaviour, procedure or situation on the target group level.
Sustainability – the extent to which, or likelihood that, the project´s positive effects for the target group will continue after completion of activities and funding by the donor/implementer. Sustainability should be assessed with an emphasis on evaluating the importance that was placed during the project cycle on motivation and cooperation with the recipients and local partners, sharing ownership and identification of entities responsible for follow-up funding whilst objectively considering any obstacles.
Impacts – positive and negative, direct and indirect, and intended and unintended short- and long-term consequences of the project for the target group and in the partner country in general.
For the impacts criterion, the evaluation must also thoroughly address external influences of the environment in which the project was implemented, and specify obstacles that may objectively be considered to have an influence on these impacts.
Fundamental evaluation questions:
Relevance
· What are the main priorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the sector of government and civil society?
· How were the development activities of the project linked to the relevant strategic documents of the Czech Republic and of Bosnia and Herzegovina ?
Effectiveness
· Were the implementers' procedures cost-effective?
· Which activities were the most successful in terms of the goals´ achievement ?
· How did the involvement of the Czech and local capacities influence the project´s efficiency?
· Is there any effective and functional link between the project and other donors´ activities ?
· Is it possible to identify good practice examples (e.g. in comparison with other donors' projects)?
Efficiency
· Has the evaluated project been sufficiently well elaborated and logically sequenced including well-identified objectives and impacts and realistic assumptions?
· In which way have been the goals of the project achieved?
· What specifically have the local partners adopted from the project´s practice (methodology, newly created capacities , competence, etc.)?
· What follow-up initiatives of the project have the local governments or other target groups implemented?
Impacts
· What are the final objectively verifiable impacts in relation to the intended impacts?
· What external factors affected the results and impacts of the project in a positive/negative way?
· Can any other positive impacts, e.g. those related to the increased food safety or livestock production quality (depending on the main issues the project would solve) ?
· Did the activities or impacts of the project reache the target groups beyond original intention ?
Sustainability
· Did the project have a developed exit strategy?
· What is the sustainability of the project from the perspective of ownership of the project by the recipient?
· Are the project outputs in accordance with the legislative and standards framework of Bosnia and Hercegovina?
· Is the evaluated project sufficiently coordinated with activities of the government institutions responsible for the given sector?
Further cooperation
· Are there any project´s follow-up activities of the implementers (including subcontractors) beyond the Czech bilateral cooperation (e. g. involvement of Czech subjects into other donors´ projects)?
Findings concerning the system
· Will the topics of the project still be relevant from the perspective of medium-term and long-term needs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (3 – 5 years)? Is it desirable that the Czech development cooperation program continues to support this area?
· Can any system recommendations be derived from the evaluation results to amend the focus or increase the effectiveness of further development projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina or other countries and sectors?
Additional evaluation criteria
The evaluation will also assess the project as to its external presentation (visibility) in the partner country and with respect to application of cross-cutting principles of Czech development cooperation as defined in the Development Cooperation Strategy of the Czech Republic 2010 – 2017[2]: good (democratic) governance; respect for the environment and climate; respect for the human rights of beneficiaries, including equality between men and women. Evaluators should, in particular, assess whether and how the cross-cutting principles (or some of them as applicable) are directly associated with the sector(s) focus of the evaluated project and its activities; whether and how the implementer has addressed the cross-cutting principles when formulating and implementing the project; whether in efforts to take cross-cutting principles into account during preparation and implementation of the project, the implementer (or the contracting authority during formulation of the project) encountered conflicting objectives, interests and values of the project beneficiaries/partner country, and how such situation was resolved. Regarding these aspects, the evaluation team should therefore be astute in collecting data and ascertain the viewpoints of the project’s final beneficiaries (and, where appropriate, other relevant persons). From the information obtained an overall conclusion should be drawn with respect to the individual cross-cutting principles as to the extent to which the evaluated project made use of existing opportunities and avoided undesirable situations.
Evaluation of cross-cutting principles will be piloted in compliance with the methodology of cross-cutting evaluation principles of the Czech Republic Development Cooperation, that is under preparation by the Institute for Evaluation and Social Analysis – INESAN, s.r.o., (research institute), within the Omega programme of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. The aim of the methodology (certified upon compleition) is to unify currently applied approaches and to establish suitable evaluation methods for obtaining relevant and objective indicators so that evaluation of the application of cross-cutting principles in development projects is unified and comprehensive.
Fundandamental questions for cross-cutting principles evaluation in compliance with the above mentioned methodology:
· To what extent has the project reflected the cross-cutting principle of good (democratic) governance and democratic principles implementation ?
· To what extent has the project strenghtened good (democratic) governance and democratic principles implementation? What tools/methods were used for this purpose?
· Has the project contributed to any negative results or impacts as to good (democratic) governance?